Are we better than last year?

[JackyFulham90]

A lot of changes in the squad over the summer

We lost

Schwarzer , Baird , Manolev , Enoh , Frimpong , Emanuelson , Petric

Have so far brought in

Stekelenburg , Amorebieta , Boateng , Taarabt & Bent

Jol has done really well this summer if we can get a decent central midfielder we can push for a top 10 maybe top 8 finish I feel.

Kasami & Mesca have become serious options in the squad & when you compare our side last year to now you see how well the club has done

Last year -

Schwarzer

Riether Senderos Hangeland Riise

Dejagah Sidwell Karagounis Duff

Ruiz

Berbatov


This year

Stekelenburg

Riether Hangeland Amorebieta Richardson

Boateng Sidwell

Dejagah Berbatov Taarabt

Bent



A lot of decent business by jol so  far

[epsomraver]

Give us a puff of what you are smoking?

[Lighthouse]

Jol has said the club have to be creative as they have no money and Taarabt is a gamble. Bent clearly is another gamble. So hopefully everything will click. But I think it best to actually see if these players are fit and gel before saying if we are better than last year.

Hope we create more chances this season.

[twang]

Yes, IMO we are better off now. However there's still a big hole in central midfield to fill, as we all know.

Also, I really don't hope Taarabt is ahead of Kaca in the pecking order. Kaca is a very ambitious young man who won't want to sit on the bench for a long period of time. When Urby came in on loan last year Kaca pushed through a loan to Burnely to get playing time. This season I can see him wanting a permanent move if he finds himself in a similar position because of Taarabt, and rightly so.

[Bassey the warrior]

A lot of changes in the squad over the summer

We lost

Schwarzer , Baird , Manolev , Enoh , Frimpong , Emanuelson , Petric

Have so far brought in

Stekelenburg , Amorebieta , Boateng , Taarabt & Bent

Jol has done really well this summer if we can get a decent central midfielder we can push for a top 10 maybe top 8 finish I feel.

Kasami & Mesca have become serious options in the squad & when you compare our side last year to now you see how well the club has done

Last year -

Schwarzer

Riether Senderos Hangeland Riise

Dejagah Sidwell Karagounis Duff

Ruiz

Berbatov


This year

Stekelenburg

Riether Hangeland Amorebieta Richardson

Boateng Sidwell

Dejagah Berbatov Taarabt

Bent



A lot of decent business by jol so  far

In terms of quality we are clearly better, Boateng is an upgrade on Baird, Stek on Schwarzer, Amore on Senderos, Bent on Petric, Taarabt is superb on his day. Just depends how they gel and how quickly they settle and adapt for those coming from abroad. Excited to see Mesca too and slightly disappointed Kasami will go out on loan. Would be cool if we saw a bit of Chris David.

[Bassey the warrior]

Give us a puff of what you are smoking?

So you think we are worse than last season?

[Aaron]

We have upgraded in the transfer window, I think to argue against that is a little daft. 

The unfortunate thing is that last season all we *really* needed was a creative CM and we still don't have that.

[EJL]

Top eight? Assuming the top six will be occupied by United, Chelsea, Arsenal, City, Liverpool and Spurs (in no particular order), that leaves other strong teams like Everton, West Brom and Swansea, as well as teams who have significantly improved their squads such as Southampton, Norwich and West Ham. I know you haven't said 'guaranteed top ten' in this thread, but I've seen you say similar in others.

[God The Mechanic]

Definitely not worse than last year imo, and a few of the new signings offer an alternative (especially Bent).  However there is still the serious issue of midfield.  It just ain't good enough.  No matter how good the rest of the team may or may not be, it just won't work if your foundations are rocky.

[RidgeRider]

We are better but I'm not convinced we will perform better (I certainly hope we do)....we should be better on the pitch but last year we had good talent but played very poorly all too often, almost like we didn't belong in the league.

[JoeBartramFFC]

We have a far greater wealth of attacking talent although i would have loved to have retained Petric and Emmanuelson. Where we are lacking is overall quality in depth, most prominently in CM.

I think we will do better than last year not only based on the current squad but the potential incoming's before September 2nd and of course in January, should we not be meeting targets i don't think Khan will hesitate to spend money on the right players. Considering we got four players on loan deals in January, and only Enoh had any real impact, this can only be a positive.

[RaySmith]

Well we  are starting the season with more strength in depth, and in the first team , than last season - well, I'm assuming we are not going to lose any of our top players at the last minute!

I'm excited - this has the makings of a  good side -though whether they will gel is a different matter. We need to get to get off to good start to build the all important confidence.

The Prem is so competitive , and all our rivals have also brought in  talent, but hopefully we can be more consistent than last year, and see some  thrilling play, including more goals from other than Berba, along the way.

I'm sure it will be an emotional roller coaster  following Fulham as always - but i think that is an attraction of  following a team like Fulham, rather than one of the top boys - success is never taken for granted, and when you get some , even winning a game  away, for example, or even at home last season! you really appreciate it.

[CincyFulham1]

Hard to tell until we've played a few matches, but I think we are slighlty better off than this time last year.

[HatterDon]

Give us a puff of what you are smoking?

agree. I can't afford the good stuff anymore; I'd need the odd hit from a good friend.

I'll be stunned if we finish higher than 14th.

[CincyFulham1]

Give us a puff of what you are smoking?

agree. I can't afford the good stuff anymore; I'd need the odd hit from a good friend.

I'll be stunned if we finish higher than 14th.

Really HD?  Do you think the squad is that bad?